In case you’re wondering why Parasite director Bong Joon-ho is working on a potential television adaptation of his now six-time Academy Award-nominated film, it’s not specifically because Adam McKay is onboard the project or because it’s purportedly headed to HBO. No, it’s because he’s already got a TV show’s worth of EPU (Expanded Parasite Universe) ideas he had to excise from his screenplay, and a small screen adaptation is the only way he’s going to fit them all into one project.
“I really liked Adam McKay’s The Big Short and I loved his sense of humour, and the sharp satire he conveyed about the current American politics,†the director told Deadline through his translator, filmmaker Sharon Choi, on Monday. “With Parasite, while I was writing the script, I had so many more ideas I couldn’t convey into the two-hour running time of the film. I knew that if I had a longer running time, I would be able to tell these stories, and I that’s what I plan to talk about with Adam pretty soon.â€
“When I think of a limited series, I really think of it as an expanded film,†the director similarly told Variety on Monday. “Like Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander, you have a three-hour theatrical version and a three-hour TV version. So my goal is to create a high-quality expanded version of Parasite.†Somewhere, Martin Scorsese just gasped in belated realization.